Introduction
Once when I was about 4 or 5 years old, my older cousin came over to babysit. When it was time to put us to bed, he thought that it might help us get to sleep if he told us some stories. Stories that I still remember, word for word, to this very day, and stories that were so gory and disturbing that I can’t retell here. Except to say there was one with little boy chased by a zombie groaning: “Johnny, I want my liver back” – it’s a long story.
Of course, I was scared. From then on, I couldn’t go upstairs to my bedroom in the dark alone. My sisters were no help – they just made it worse by following me around taunting “Johnny, I want my liver back”. In short, I, little Timmy, was scared and weak.
But of course, it was my mum who saved the day. My mum who reassured me, tucked me in and made sure there was nothing under my bed. My mum who told my sisters to cut it out. And my mum who made sure that cousin never babysat again. In my fear and weakness, I needed my mum’s reassurance and strength.
But fear and weakness aren’t reserved for kids. And neither are scary stories. In recent years, the horror genre has exploded again, with a constant stream high-brow scary movies feeding a hungry audience. The audience is there because these stories tap into primal fears and our sense of vulnerability that are especially present in these times. These movies play on our fears about killer viruses, out-of-control AI, climate disaster, divided communities, sky-rocketing prices, and strong-arm governments, and our feelings of weakness and a sense of confusion about what God could be doing.
Context
In this next instalment from the book of Judges, the Israelites live in a time of incredible fear. They fear what’s out there in the world around them. And they’re intensely aware of their own weaknesses.
The Israelites are in this spiritual amnesiac spiral of turning away from God, facing God’s judgment, God sending a saviour, and then them turning away again.
And in this next cycle, we meet Gideon. A man who, like his people, is scared, and feels very weak.
But as we get into Gideon’s story, we’ll see how God comes to meet Gideon in two ways: God meets Gideon’s fear with his reassuring promise, and he meets Gideon’s weakness with his strength. And we’ll see how God comes to us in our fear and weakness, like a tender mother caring for and protecting her children.
Gideon’s fear is met with God’s promise (6:11–16)
Gideon’s fear
When we meet Gideon in v. 11, he’s threshing wheat in a winepress. I’m no wheat-grower or winemaker, but that doesn’t sound right. Normally, you would thresh wheat in an open place, above ground, where you can throw the wheat into the air and the wind would blow away the chaff, and you’re left with the seed. But Gideon is in a winepress, a hole in the ground.
Why? Because he’s hiding scared. And the source of his terror is the Midianites. They were nomadic marauders, who invaded the Israelites and devoured their crops and livestock like swarming locusts, leaving them poor and starving.
So you can understand why Gideon is scared! He’s scared for his nation – how will they ever be secure? Scared for his family – how long will their food and their home last? And he’s scared of his own God – it really looks like God has abandoned them.
Gideon’s Encounter with the Angel
But then, in v. 12, something changes. For the first time in Judges, we meet an angel of God. ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!’ he says.
This bodes well. Gideon’s name means “hacker,” or “one who cuts down”, and this appearance of an angel is unfolding like God’s choosing of Moses, the great prophet who led Israel out of Egypt.
So this Angel’s words are a hint at a promise. A promise that Gideon is the next deliverer of God’s people.
But Gideon isn’t so sure. So he snaps back “If the Lord is with us, why has this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian”
Gideon names an age-old issue – the problem of evil. If we’re suffering like this, then either God can’t do anything about it—like an impotent government official, powerless to control the mob. Or, he’s he doesn’t want to—like a cruel despot, callous to the suffering and starving of his people. Either way, for Gideon, God has left them to languish, and their only option is despair.
Even if you don’t explicitly say this, it’s easy to believe it even subconsciously we face hardship. Sometimes when I’m in a crisis, it’s incredible how I act like God isn’t there or isn’t interested. I fret and ruminate and worry; or I race around the fix the issue. I act as if the Lord has abandoned me, and it’s all up to me.
Despite Gideon’s cutting doubt, the angel persists: “go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
This is an explicit promise and commission: God is sending Gideon to save Israel. What more does Gideon need?
But Gideon’s not sure about this ‘strength that he has’. “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh (one of the tribes of Israel), and I am the least in my family”.
But again, God persists: “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites”
Gideon is scared! But God meets Gideon’s fear with his promises. He will be with him; he will save Israel.
God’s Promises in our fear
In our fear, God gives us his great promises, too.
Thankfully, God isn’t promising to make you or me his saviour. You are not his ‘mighty warrior’. Gideon was Israel’s saviour for a time, but Israel’s ultimate saviour—and the saviour of the world—was Jesus Christ.
And we have all God’s promises in him.
First, he has promised that he has already saved us in Jesus Christ. God has not abandoned us, but given himself for us in Jesus Christ. He hears your cry for mercy, and turns aside his judgement. In Christ, he has defeated every wrongdoing, every source of shame, and every spiritual power. In Christ, you are not his enemy, but his friend; his beloved child.
So, if you feel buried in guilt, or shame, or like God wants nothing to do with you, you don’t need to be afraid.
Second, he has promised that he is with you, whatever you face. You have his Holy Spirit – God is living in you. With his Spirit in you, he hears your prayers, and he answers them. And even if his answers aren’t what you’d like, he is shaping and moulding you into a person of character and perseverance.
So if you feel like you’re left alone, like God has abandoned you, or he isn’t listening, you don’t need to be afraid. He is with you.
Third, he has promised that he will fully and finally overcome all. He will raise up our weak, decaying bodies, and give you a new resurrection body. He will restore all the creation, bringing heaven to earth.
So, if you feel like the world is spiraling out of control, and you with it, like God has just left us, you don’t need to be afraid. He has it in hand.
Gideon’s weakness is met with God’s strength (7:1–22)
But if God has made these promises to Gideon, will God fulfil them? And will he really use this scared, weak man?
As the story progresses, Gideon begins to show the courage and strength that he needs. As promised, the Spirit of God rushes onto him, empowering him to do God’s work. He blows a horn and sends messengers, and men come from all the surrounding tribes to join him.
But at the start of chapter 7, there’s a problem. He’s ready for battle, but God says to him: “You have too many men”. What? They’re about to take on mercilessly oppressive nation. How can there be too many men?
The issue is there in v. 2, and the story turns on this, so listen carefully. God says:
You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
What’s at stake here is one of the most sinister spiritual diseases there is: spiritual pride. “My own strength has saved me.” This pride infected Israel of old, and it infects us today.
God didn’t just want to save Israel. He wanted to teach them this most crucial spiritual lesson: your strength won’t save you.
So, God does three things to drive the point home:
First, he sorts Gideon’s men. He sends 22,000 home who are afraid. And of the remaining 10,000, he keeps only 300 men—1% of his original force —men who drink like dogs. And God reiterates: with the three hundred men that lapped I will save you. Through your weakness, I will show my strength.
Second, God gives Gideon a sign. He sends Gideon into the camp where he overhears an enemy soldier’s dream: a loaf of bread rolls into their camp and demolishes the tent. And the interpretation in v. 14: “God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands” – despite Gideon’s weakness, God will do it.
Third, God does what he says. Gideon and his men surround the Midianites, and in the dead of the night, carrying pots with torches and trumpets – no swords! Can you imagine what these soldiers were thinking?!
Then, they smash their pots, blow their trumpets, and shine their torches. The Midianites think they are a massive army routing their camp, so they panic, turn on one another, and flee. God is true to his word: he delivers Israelites from their enemies.
War and Violence?
At this point, it’s worth pressing pause for a moment. Because there’s a question here that the book of Judges raises that we haven’t addressed. Why would God command Gideon to go to war, let alone orchestrate a slaughter like this? It’s pretty confronting. And it also seems to justify the religious wars we’ve seen through the centuries and continue to see today.
I don’t think I can give all the answers, but we need to recognise three things. First, when God does this, this is an instance of God’s justice. The Midianites were a violent, oppressive people. God allowed them to oppress his people for a time, as a kind of discipline. But now, he turns to enact justice, and the violence that God enacts is a kind of counter-violence against the horrors that the Midianites were perpetrating.
Second, as God does this, he is establishing his holy people for the good and salvation of all the world. He promised they would be a kingdom of priests, through whom he would save and bless the whole world, and here he is making that happen. Ultimately from these people, Jesus Christ will come.
Finally, this was a particular time in Israel’s history, when they were commanded directly to do this. These are not commands for today, either for Israel or the church. So, it does not justify religious wars today. Instead, we now see God’s purposes extended through Jesus Christ – spreading his good news and building his church.
This is just a thumb-nail sketch, and I’d love to talk more about this afterwards if you like.
God’s Strength in Our Weakness
But for now, we need to return to God’s victory through Gideon. This is a story about Gideon’s weakness and God’s strength. Gideon lamented his weakness, but God delivered the Israelites through him. I want to finish with three things that we can learn.
The first is that human weakness is no obstacle to God. We see this again and again in the Bible, and it culminates in the weak and shameful death of Jesus Christ, through which God saved us. And if God can use human weakness like this, how much more can he use us when we are weak. So if you feel weak or inadequate, God can use you, in ways you might not expect.
When I started in ministry, I worked with a small group of young adults in running a youth ministry. To my shame, I saw two of these young men and thought they weren’t going to be very useful. One was neurodivergent, which made him quite socially awkward, and the other had a very serious stutter. But I saw God use these men to disciple young people in incredible ways—especially young teenage boys who felt they didn’t fit in themselves. God used them in their weakness, and he can use any of us in our weakness.
But there’s second point here about weakness: it’s not just that God can use the weak. It’s that weakness is a spiritual advantage. At the heart of our relationship with God is complete dependence on him. And when we are weak and needy, it teaches us to depend more fully on God.
The most admirable thing that Gideon did in this story was when he realised that God would deliver him, so he knelt down and worshipped.
The Scottish-American preacher Alister Begg said “If dependence is the objective, then weakness is the advantage”.
“If dependence is the objective, then weakness is the advantage”.
So, if you feel stuck in sin and guilt, this is your chance to become more dependent on God’s mercy. If you’re stinging from disappointment, this is your chance to depend on God’s loving care and reassurance. If you’re suffering from illness, here’s your chance to consider your mortality and your dependence on God in life and death. In these ways, God has taken away your 30,000 men, and it’s your chance to trust through this.
Finally, a word about strength, which can be a source of spiritual pride. Once God gave Gideon his 32,000 men, the risk was that he would become proud and boast about saving himself. And, sadly, even though God reduced his men to 300, as we follow the story of Gideon, that’s exactly what happened.
If you feel strong and secure in your own resources – in your in your wealth, power, fitness, or goodness – there is a real danger of pride before God. But true strength and true victory come by depending on God. So the challenge is to prise your hold off your worldly strength, and set yourself to live in utter dependence on God, living with humility and sacrifice for the sake of others.
As a church, we will only grow in true strength as we do the weak-looking things. As we pursue God and not our own agendas. As we humbly serve each other and show compassion to the suffering. This is how we grow together to maturity in Christ. And how we witness to a watching world, as they look at us and give the glory to God.
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So good 👌🏼